Abhanga 3105
Your body is passing away and nothing you rely on, whether wealth, comfort, or family ties, can stop that, so wake up now before it's too late.
The verse
देह जाईंल जाईंल । यासी काळ बा खाईंल ॥१॥
कां रे नुमजसी दगडा । कैचे हत्ती घोडे वाडा ॥ध्रु.॥
लोडें बालिस्तें सुपती । जरा आलिया फजिती ॥२॥
शरीरसंबंधाचें नातें । भोरड्या बुडविती सेतातें ॥३॥
अझुनि तरी होई जागा । तुका म्हणे पुढें दगा ॥४॥
Literal translation
Deha jāīmla jāīmla — the deha will go, will go; yāsī kāḷa bā khāīmla — kāḷa will eat it. Kām re numajasī dagaḍā — why don't you understand, stone; kaiche hattī ghōḍe vāḍā — what (use are) elephants, horses, mansion. Lōḍe bālistē supatī — mattress, cushion, hand-fan; jarā āliyā phajitī — when jarā comes, (they are) phajitī. Śarīra-sambamdhāñce nāte — the bond of śarīra-sambandha; bhōraḍyā buḍavitī setāte — bhōraḍa (birds) drown the fields. Ajhuni tarī hōī jāgā — even now, wake up; Tukā mhaṇe puḍhe dagā — Tukā says: dagā ahead.
What it means
A 4-verse mortality-warning by Tukārām.
The argument: Deha-will-go, kāḷa-eats-it. Why-don't-you-realize, stone? What-elephants-horses-mansion? Mattress-cushion-fan become-shame in-old-age. Body-relations are-like bhōraḍa-birds-drowning-fields. Even-now, wake-up — dagā-(deceit)-ahead.
The bhōraḍa-drowns-fields image is striking — bhōraḍa-(a-type-of-bird) drowns-the-fields by-eating-the-seed; so do-body-relations-drown-the-bhakta's-field-of-life.
For someone today
Tukārām's mortality-warning. The body will go, will go; Time will eat it. Why do you not understand, you stone? — what (use are) elephants, horses, mansion? Mattress-cushion-fan — when old-age comes — they are shame. The bonds of body-relation — birds drown the fields. Even now, wake up — deceit is ahead. The verse permits the canonical mortality-shock-warning.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's mortality-warning
- Bhōraḍa-drowns-fields canonical-image
- Companion to 2884, 3075